Smilow Cancer Hospital Earns LEED Certification

Facility equipped with doors, locks and hardware from ASSA ABLOY Group brands

Sustainable construction practices and widespread use of building products made with recycled content and other “Green” features—including doors and hardware from ASSA ABLOY Group brands—enabled the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven located in New Haven, Connecticut to achieve LEED certification.

The Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven located in New Haven, Connecticut, opened with a simple mission – bring together the very best medical professionals and researchers to develop new methods to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer – all while attending to the needs of patients within a holistic, nurturing environment.

This focus on patient care was achieved using sustainable design and construction strategies that earned the facility LEED Certified status from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Smilow’s sustainable features include: optimum circulation of natural light in its lobbies, corridors and waiting areas to reduce energy consumption; use of occupancy sensors in non-patient spaces to further reduce energy usage; pumps with variable speed drives and room pressure monitors to reduce power usage for enhanced air supply. Hollow metal doors and frames used throughout the facility were supplied by ASSA ABLOY Group brand, CURRIES, whose doors and frames are among the most energy efficient in the industry.

The facility also has upgraded air handling units which provide improved indoor air quality, low-flow water fixtures, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and finishes, easy-to-clean solid surface finishes and epoxy paints in operating rooms to combat infections effectively. This focus on indoor air quality, monitoring systems and pollutant source control creates a better facility for patients and staff. All ASSA ABLOY Door Group brands, including CURRIES, are GREENGUARD Certified to help facilities achieve this goal.

While designing the facility, architects, health care and design professionals collaborated to create a setting where patients can best focus on their treatment and path to wellness and healing. “A central part of designing Smilow was using materials and finishes that would help create an environment of healing and calm and support the hospital’s pursuit of LEED certification,” said Shepley Bulfinch’s Angela Watson, AIA, the design principal for the project.

Throughout the fourteen-story building, aesthetically focused touches blend with the functional needs of the space. Special features include a roof-top healing garden complete with trees and a small stream. Throughout the garden, benches invite patients to sit and enjoy the views of the City and the coastline. Additionally, the hospital’s two-story glass lobby welcomes patients and visitors with a granite waterfall.

The building’s calming environment is enhanced by the sense of safety and security the hospital achieved with local solutions provider ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions. A complete door opening package including frames, doors and hardware from Curries, McKinney, Rixson, Rockwood and Sargent was supplied, all made with high percentages of recycled content. Electromechanical exit devices help ease the opening and closing of some doors, while others are equipped with pivots and door pulls to fulfill the design intent of providing patients with a beautiful worry-free environment in which to heal.